The Importance of Metadata in Digital Evidence for Legal Practitioners

摘要

The vast increase in the creation, storage, and communication of digital information is impacting all aspects of human activity. The exponential growth of digital information means digital evidence is now prevalent in both the criminal and civil justice systems. The legal field is increasingly reliant on digital systems. The vast increase in digital evidence presents numerous challenges and opportunities to legal practitioners. Digital evidence often contains a hidden component in the form of metadata that legal practitioners must have knowledge about. Every digital file has numerous types of metadata. Every communication sent over digital networks, such as email and social media messages, contains metadata.5 Metadata from communications such as social media can be recovered from the smartphones and computers of participants in an online conversation.